V. Shankar Speaks at 2016 EXIM Bank Annual Conference

International business, academic, media, and government leaders were invited to speak at the 2016 Annual Conference of the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM) at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C., on April 7th and 8th.

The two-day event featured keynote remarks, plenary sessions and panel discussions as well as opportunities for networking. Approximately 1,100 participants from more than 40 countries are expected to attend.

Ursula Burns, CEO of Xerox Corporation and vice chair of the President’s Export Council, and Lawrence H. Summers, the Charles W. Eliot university professor and president emeritus at Harvard University, will deliver remarks on Thursday, April 7th. Other speakers scheduled for the same day include Ratan Tata, chairman emeritus, Tata Sons, and chairman of Tata Trusts; Dennis A. Muilenburg, chairman, president, and CEO of The Boeing Company; and Ambassador Samantha Power, U.S. permanent representative to the United Nations.

Featured speakers on April 8th include United States Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker;United States Treasury Secretary Jack Lew; Ambassador Michael Froman, the U.S. trade representative; and Jeff Zients, assistant to the president for economic policy and director of the National Economic Council

Conference moderators and panelists include Gillian Tett, U.S. managing director of the Financial Times; Jim Clifton, chairman of the board and CEO of Gallup; Greg Ip, chief economics commentator for The Wall Street Journal; Brian Moynihan, chairman of the board and CEO of Bank of America; V. Shankar, CEO and partner, Gateway Partners; John Hamre, president and CEO of the Center for Strategic and International Studies; Dean C. Garfield, president and CEO of the Information Technology Industry Council; Cathy Novelli, under secretary of state for economic growth, energy, and the environment and senior coordinator for international information technology diplomacy; Vint Cerf, vice president and chief internet evangelist of Google; Jonathan Woetzel, director of the McKinsey Global Institute, Shanghai; Megan Murphy, Washington bureau chief of Bloomberg; David Rubenstein, co-founder and co-CEO of the Carlyle Group; Dave Cote; chairman of the board and CEO of Honeywell; Lisa Davis, member of the managing board of directors of Siemens; Andrew Liveris, chairman and CEO of The Dow Chemical Company; and Elisabeth Bumiller, Washington bureau chief of The New York Times.

EXIM is an independent federal agency that supports and maintains U.S. jobs by filling gaps in private export financing at no cost to American taxpayers. The Bank provides a variety of financing mechanisms, including working capital guarantees and export credit insurance, to promote the sale of U.S. goods and services abroad. Almost ninety percent of its transactions directly serve American small businesses.

In fiscal year 2015, EXIM approved $12.4 billion in total authorizations. These authorizations supported an estimated $17 billion in U.S. export sales, as well as approximately 109,000 American jobs in communities across the country.